Temporal logic applied to reliability modelling of fault-tolerant systems

Abstract

Clearly, as more sophisticated fault-tolerant systems are developed, powerful formal techniques for modelling their reliability will be necessary. It is the intention of this paper to demonstrate the usefulness of temporal logic, an extension of the traditional Boolean logic, for formal specification and probabilistic analysis of fault-tolerant computer systems. This recognized and versatile formalism can be applied to describe dynamic behaviour in a simple and elegant fashion, which also supports reliability modelling and probabilistic reliability analysis. As will be shown, temporal logic provides a natural means for describing various forms of redundant resources and fault-tolerance mechanisms, which are frequently found in fault-tolerant computer systems. In this paper a formal technique which describes qualitative aspects of systems serves as a basis for a method that finally quantifies system behaviour.